4/5 stars. They need to see more use in my opinion, and I hope the forthcoming plastic set will achieve that.
Background.
Breach! For those marines charged with some of the most dangerous actions, there are the breacher formations. Whether this is void craft boarding, or fortress storming, all of the legions stock breacher squads to do the dirty work.
Strengths.
As the basis, the squad is kitted out with a bolt gun, bolt pistol, and boarding shield. The latter gives a 5+ invulnerable save, and access to the Shield trait (which I encourage players to remember to use!).
Beyond this, there is mild customization available in the form of graviton guns and las cutters, both of which have their place.
Weaknesses.
The 3+ save is somewhat mitigated by the 5+ invulnerable save. But regardless, the squad is cheap enough to be totally viable.
What is lacking here in my opinion is the customization afforded in previous editions (e.g., flamers and the like have now been removed). They're also not fast, but maybe you don't need them to be quite honestly. You could, in theory, just objective sit with them as they have Line (1) as standard which, whilst not as good as the despoilers or tacticals, it remains viable for objective based game setups.
Builds.
10 Marines, Vexilla, Nuncio Vox, Sergeant with Thunder Hammer (175 points).
A baseline build. A hand flamer on the sergeant might provide a counter if objective sitting, but otherwise leave it out.
20 Marines, Vexilla, Nuncio Vox, Sergeant with Thunder Hammer, 4 Las Cutters (335 points).
Fully upgraded and you can take melta bombs to taste. The unit retains very short range shooting and enhanced close combat thanks to the las cutters. This is a squad that demands to be dealt with as it is a close combat threat.
10 Marines, Vexilla, Nuncio Vox, 2 Graviton Guns, Sergeant with Thunder Hammer (195 points).
Ranged variant. The graviton guns cover a similar range to bolt guns (slightly shorter range only) and therefore are well paired for a more shooting orientated build. Take melta bombs to taste and build up to 20 marines (as per the previous example) if needed. A plasma pistol on the sergeant is viable for ranged squads like this to pack extra punch.
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